Bois de Boulogne

Paris is one of the green-ist of the large cities in the world. It not only has tons of small parks hidden throughout its neighborhoods but also it boasts of numerous large, expansive parks. On Sunday we visited the city's largest, Bois de Boulogne, situated on the western edge of Paris. In ancient times this was one of the hunting areas for the kings, thus the surrounding residential neighborhoods are upscale. The park is now a smorgasbord for outdoor/nature activities and contains several specialty parks within its boundaries. For example, the southern edge of the Bois has Roland Garros where the annual French Open takes place. We took the Metro Line 1 to the Sabion exit then walked to entrance nearest to the Jardin d'Acclimatation. From there we headed to the Parc de Bagatelle, one of Paris' botanic gardens. It was absolutely gorgeous with tulips, clematis, apple and pear trees, wisteria, and tons more in full bloom. The gardens even have a very attractive restaurant that we want to someday go back to someday. There were also several pairs of peacocks wondering the grounds, providing lots of picture-taking opportunities. One of the males spread his full plumage as spectators oooed and awed, myself included. At the end of day, we had clocked in more than 10 miles of walking, every step of the way worth the effort.